Athletes Nathan and Deirdre Farrugia, who have travelled to New York for the famous marathon, have put their names down to help with the relief plans with American Red Cross next week.
The couple expressed disappointment yesterday when the marathon they had been training for since April was cancelled in the 11th hour in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
After a fretful few days watching the storm batter America’s Eastern Seaboard on TV, the Farrugias arrived in New York on Thursday night after city mayor Michael Bloomberg assured participants the race would go ahead.
But on Friday, the mayor and organiser issued a joint statement saying the marathon was cancelled because they did “not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants.”
Inspire chief executive Mr Farrugia is well-known for charity fundraising endurance feats, but this would have been his wife’s first full marathon, just days after her 40th birthday.
“We understand their reasons but they should have cancelled it earlier instead of waiting for thousands of runners to arrive from all over the world,” said Mr Farrugia.
Like countless other participants, the super-fit Farrugias had booked time off work, trained for months and spent thousands of euros to take part. Since arriving in New York the Farrugias had met a British Olympic athlete, runners who had travelled from Australia and others who had embarked on extraordinary charity fundraising missions. “It’s not fair on any of them,” Mr Farrugia said.
The former Malta national basketball team player had sensed hostility from New Yorkers towards the runners arriving in the city for the race.
Before the cancellation was announced there was much criticism of the mayor, who denied that policing the marathon would divert resources away from the clean-up and recovery efforts.
“New Yorkers are hurting, but they should be focusing their anger on the administration and not on the runners,” Mr Farrugia said.
He said his wife and himself have now put their names down to help with the relief plans and have also donated money.
He noted, however, that the New York Knicks basketball team played at home on Friday in front of a capacity crowd, and another full-house is expected tonight for the New York Giants’ American football game.
“From 34th Street you would not even know there has been a storm – all the shops, bars and restaurants are full,” Mr Farrugia said, though he was mindful that other areas of the city were still suffering blackouts and flooding.
The Farrugias are hoping to join some other runners today for an unofficial run somewhere in the city.
Ms Farrugia, a former top sprinter, admitted yesterday that the cancellation had left her really frustrated.
Having trained since April for the event, Ms Farrugia felt ready for the event and it was too soon for her to say whether she would attempt another full marathon in future.
“To be honest, right now I feel like going home but I’ll get over the annoyance. We’ve booked for 10 days so we will make the best of it and enjoy New York.”